conworldfandomcom-20200222-history
New Cambria general election, 2009
The 2009 New Cambria general election took place on Saturday, 14 March, following the dissolution of the Assembly of Deputies of New Cambria by the President on Friday, 7 February. The electorate was given the task of choosing the 100 Deputies of the 17th Assembly, who then met on the first day of the month following 30 days after the election. The incoming assembly convened on 1 May to nominate a Prime Minister and ratify the Ministers of the Executive Council. The Social Democrat party won the election and gained nine seats, while the Independence party suffered a net loss of eight seats and were thus sent back into opposition. The National party, Independence's junior coalition partner in the previous Assembly, were nearly wiped out altogether, losing four of their five seats. On 27 April 2009, the Social Democrat, Green and Progressive parties reached agreement on a draft Programme for Government. This resulted in the formation of a coalition government on 1 May between the Social Democrats, Greens and Progressives. The Executive Council is also supported by three Non Party ADs. On the same date, voters elected the 580 members of New Cambria's 65 municipal councils, and the 126 members of the nine county councils. The presidential election was scheduled for the same date, though incumbent president Daniel Burns ran unopposed, and was therefore reelected without a ballot. Election date and system On 13 February 2009, President Daniel Burns dissolved the 16th Assembly of Deputies of New Cambria on the request of the Prime Minster Adam Duval. The election date was officially set for 14 March 2009. The 17th Assembly of Deputies of New Cambria would convene on 1 June, at which stage the Prime Minister would be nominated and the rest of the Executive Council elected. Official campaigning began as soon as the announcement had been made. The statute at the time required that the Assembly be dissolved within three years after its first meeting (1 August 2006) following the previous election, and the election must take place within 60 days after the dissolution. The 16th Assembly lasted 927 days, tying for the third-shortest Assembly in New Cambria's history. Only the 8th and 15th Assemblies were shorter, and the 2nd Assembly was exactly as long. There was speculation in 2007 that Prime Minister Duval might have moved to dissolve the Assembly early in order to catch the opposition off guard, though this did not transpire. In 2007, in anticipation of the election date, the parties began candidate selections and from mid-2007 some ADs announced their retirement plans. There was some controversy over which day of the week to have held the election, as it was the first time a Saturday was chosen as polling day. Historically, most elections in New Cambria have taken place on Tuesdays or Thursdays, with only one each on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday (elections for the 7th, 9th and 10th Assemblies, respectively). The Social Democrats insisted that a weekend polling day would make it easier for those studying or working away from home to vote. The closing time and date for nominations was at noon local time on 27 February 2009. Polls were open from 7:00am until 10:30pm. The system of voting was Proportional Representation with a Single Transferable Vote, also known as PR-STV. The general election took place in 24 Assembly constituencies throughout New Cambria for all 100 of the Assembly's seats. Campaign As a result of falling opinion poll ratings for the outgoing government in the months approaching the start of the campaign, the election was one of the more closely fought in decades, with the outcome being very uncertain. The election was fought as a contest for Prime Minister between the outgoing Independence-National coalition and a proposed Social Democrat-Green coalition. Opinion polls did not show either option as being certain, and other possibilities included Independence-led coalition with other parties, or Social Democrat with Progressives and Parti égalité. The Social Democrats had an agreed transfer pact with the Progressives. The EEO was not aligned but made statements favouring a change from the outgoing government. All parties claimed that they would not include the Socialist party in a new government. Much of the campaign concentrated on the traditional issues of health, education, crime and the economy, with debate centering on the ability of the various parties to deliver of the various totals of hospital beds, police and pupil-teacher ratios they were promising. A debate was held amongst the potential candidates for Deputy Prime Minister and a separate debate between Adam Duval and Jeremy Kinney of which concentrated on Kinney's ability to serve as Prime Minister given his lack of experience. Opinion polls during the early stages of the campaign showed the Social Democrat-Green coalition gaining on the government and the likelihood of Kinney becoming Prime Minister increased, with some commentators predicting that Independence would return with as little as 30 seats. In the last week of the campaign, following the televised debates, a NCT poll showed Social Democrats at 43%, which was replicated on polling day. Overview The general election result was significant for a number of reasons: * The election was considered a colossal failure for the Independence party. It returned with 35 seats, a net loss of 8 from the previous election, despite predictions earlier in the campaign that Independence would likely break even. It was the first time the leading party was sent back to opposition after just one term since 1982. * The Social Democrats saw a resurgence in support, gaining 9 seats for a total of 49. * A sharp drop in support for the National Party, which saw its seats drop from 5 to 1. * The continued success of the EEO, which picked up another seat, bringing their total to 5. * The return of the Socialist Party of New Cambria to the Assembly for the first time since 1994. * An increase in the number of Non Party ADs by 2, bringing the total to 3. The 2009 election results saw the Social Democrats win most of their 10 seats at the expense of the Independence party (7), though Social Democrats also replaced 2 National ADs and 1 Green. The only loss for the Social Democrats was in Southport Central, where Socialist candidate Thomas Keane was elected to replace the retiring James Cunningham. Negotiations began the following week for the formation of a new Executive Council, with Jeremy Kinney stating that his preferred option was for a coalition of Social Democrats, Progressives, Greens and like-minded independents. The ousted Prime Minister and Independence leader Adam Duval did not rule out forming an alternative government, stating that he would talk to all parties except Social Democrat and Progressive. The election took place in the Assembly on 1 June 2009, with Jeremy Kinney being elected to the position. Result Turnout The total New Cambrian electorate registered as eligible to vote as of 13 February 2009 was 2,168,888. As 1,698,202 first preference votes and spoilt votes were cast in the general election, voter turnout was 78.30%. Assembly membership changes The following changes took place as a result of the election: * 14 outgoing ADs retired. * 86 outgoing ADs stood for re-election. ** 73 of those were re-elected. ** 13 failed to be re-elected. * 27 successor ADs were elected. * There were 7 female successor ADs, increasing the total by 2 to 17. Changes by constituency See also * New Cambria general election, 2006 * Next New Cambria general election Category:New Cambria Category:Events